1 Year Photos

We went and got 1 Year pictures of Ellie at JC Penney on June 24, 2011. This is the 2nd time we've been there and I am really pleased with how they turn out. I will say that I don't think the photographer was quite as good this time and I will probably request the lady I had the first time when we go again, but I still think they turned out great. Plus, JC Penney always has awesome coupons you can find. They have them on there website, in magazines or at the checkout stand in the store. I would recommend them for sure! Here are the cute pictures! This was my favorite. I actually have a picture of me when I was little that reminds me of this. I saw a picture in there studio with these letters and I thought it would be so cute, we couldn't get Ellie to even crack a smile with them! I like to have a monkey picture, and this one turned out great. I really like that it shows her entire outfit with matching shoes as well.I'm not normally one to buy extra things when I get photos done, but I really liked this because it shows her doing things she does....a lot! Also, it was only 5 bucks....so, you can't beat that. The middle one looks like she might be laughing, but she is really screaming. She just likes to scream, it doesn't mean she is upset, most of the time, she is just a noise maker. She is always squatting like the bottom one as well, so I thought it was great.

All Girl

Ellie loves to carry around my purse, or really any bag. She even lifts her diaper bag when it's full and tries to carry it. She is so funny and definitely all girl!

July 6, 2011

We started swim lessons this week and are having lots of fun with that. It will be interesting to see how it goes. They want them to be able to hold on the side and move around so they would be able to get to the ladder if they need to, blow bubbles, so they know to blow out in the water and not suck in, float on there back, bounce off the bottom so they will be able to push up out of the water and bounce to the side, and go under water holding there breath. The last one will be interesting to see how she does with that. She really likes the water now and has a great time at the pool. We got a floaty that she can sit in and actually touch the bottom of the kiddy pool. She loves it because she can walk around and be independent. I hope she still likes swimming after being dunked!

Happy 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend! We went down to Orem on Friday night to stay at my parents. Every year there is a balloon fest in Provo where they fly hot air balloons. You can actually walk around the balloons and get a closer look. I remember watching the balloon from my bedroom window as they flew over our house growing up, but I've never been down to see them close up. I thought it would be really cool and it didn't disappoint. We had to be there by 6:30am, which means, we had to wake up Ellie, but it was worth it. It was awesome! She thought they were pretty cool too. I know hot air balloons are big, but I didn't realize just how huge they are. Here are some fun pictures we got from that morning.

July 2, 2011

Pig

Darth Vader

Smokey the Bear

Coca Cola bottle-they didn't actually fly this one because they said there wasn't anywhere for them to land that was big enough? Not sure why they couldn't just land in the same place they took off from....but I don't know enough about hot air balloons. It was really cool though.

I'm really glad we made it down to watch these. I think we may even make it a yearly tradition.My sister in law and niece came to visit, so they could meet Ellie. Let's just say that Ellie has a new best friend. She loved playing with Katie. So glad we got to see you guys!

Ellie has been really snugly lately and wanting to be held a lot! I think it may be because she is getting another tooth. The top right front tooth. Here she is snuggling with Grandma Brown! Love those snuggles. We actually went home Saturday night, and then went back down to Layton Sunday night. We got up Saturday morning and went to the Layton parade. We were lucky because our brother in law, Mike, and his family saved us great seats right up front. July 4, 2011 Ellie was really tired, but she really enjoyed the animals. Choncho was there, so Ellie, of course, had to give him lots of loves. We had a BBQ later that day and my mom came up. Hanging out on the swing with Uncle Eric and Uncle Derrick. Grandma Judy got a little pool for Ellie and it was lots of fun! There was a little breeze, so she wrapped all up with Grandma, Choncho was a little jealous, but Ellie didn't mind snuggling with him too. Later in the day we had our annual snap war! It is so intense we even change into grungy clothes so they don't get ruined. It was so much fun and we were all very, very sore the next day! We had watched fireworks later that night and Ellie was mesmerized by them. We had a great 4th and love that we live close enough to both families that we are able to see them often.

Ellie's Birthday Party

3 New Posts, scroll down:) Well, lets play catch up tonight while I have a few hours alone:) Patrick is at meetings tonight and Ellie is asleep....well I hope she's asleep right now:) Let start with Ellie's Birthday that we celebrated....a month ago on June 4! It was so much fun and I can't believe she is one already. This has been a super fast year. I had a really great time planning her party and getting everything ready. We decided on Hot Pink, Lime Green and Bright Yellow along with Monkey's! Ellie's room is decorated with Monkey's and we have called her our little monkey since before she was born, so it was perfect. Here are the invites! I think they turned out awesome. We took the pictures at the temple one day and they turned out sooo cute! How could they not with such a cutie as the subject...I had a great time making a birthday banner for her, it turned out so much better than I expected it to. With the help of my mom, we made Monkey Cake Pops. They were so awesome and I have such a great mom to help. She had the cake pops all ready to dip so all we had to do was dip and decorate the night before. I made a monkey cake and I love it! A few years ago my mom got me a cool cake set that you can make the cake turn out checkerboard when it's cut. I decided this was a perfect time to finally use it:) I think it is awesome!Ellie thought they cake was really great too! I made her own little cake so she could smash it all up and we wouldn't have to eat afterwards....I really hoped she would just dig in and get all messy, and she did. It was great! She also did awesome with opening presents! I kind of expected to open most of them and have her only be interested in the paper and bows, but she really got into opening them. She would tear the paper and all. It was great. She would get all excited about the present she opened, and then crawl to get another one! It was so much fun to watch her. She was very spoiled:)I thought this was a great picture. Everyone was singing, If You're Happy and You Know It, to try and get her to clap.... Aunt Kati and Uncle Mike brought there chihuahua, Choncho, up. Ellie LOVES dogs and really loves Choncho! I didn't get any pictures of the food, but we had a yummy lunch at the park. We had chicken salad on croissants. Surprisingly Ellie loved it! Strawberries, of course, since they are her favorite, vegi's and chips. Thanks everybody for coming up to spend the day with us!

Ellie's Year Checkup

We had Ellie's year checkup on June 9th. She is doing great! We go to Dr Horkley and really like him. He takes the time to really talk to us and answer any questions we have, and Ellie goes right to him. It is nice! Here are her 1 year stats.

Length-30 Inches, 79th percentile

Weight-20.69 Pounds, 44 percentile

She is a very healthy little girl and is just so much fun! Dr Horkley always gives a book to Ellie each checkup and she was very excited about it this time. It was great! We did have a couple of immunizations, and it is so sad because she is really crying now when she gets them. I thought it was funny though, because just after she got them, the nurse gave her a sucker(she LOVES suckers) and she decided she was fine. It was a complete change. Here are a few things Ellie is up to right now.

• She is a really great eater. Her favorite food is probably blueberries, but it is really close with raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. She will eat an entire banana by herself. She hates bananas cut up, but likes to hold big chunks to eat them instead. This made me really nervous for a while since bananas are a big choking hazard, but she does really good and take little bites off of it. It's seriously so cute when she eats them. She will eat pretty much anything we are eating. She even tried Panda Express orange chicken and chow mien and liked it. She really like mac and cheese and is eating peanut butter sandwiches now. She is a huge fan of ice cream, well really anything sweet. She likes cottage cheese, spaghetti is one of her favorites and yogurt. She has been a little bit more picky with vegi's lately. She really only likes to eat peas and tomatoes...so we will probably struggle with this part of her diet.May 29-Here she is after breakfast of eggs, cheerios and blueberries! Here she is after eating a cake pop on June 6
• Ellie has really started pointing more and more. She will point at something and then move her hands like she is saying come here. It is pretty funny. June 12, 2011On June 11, we went down to my parents house because my brother Gary and sister in law Katie were in town. They brought there dog Sadie, a lab, and I thought Ellie would be at least a little apprehensive, but she went straight for the dog. Luckily Sadie is really great with kids. Here is a picture of Ellie grabbing her tail and smacking in on the ground. She also poked at her nose, mouth, and eyes. Sadie just took it all. She would always point at Sadie and want her to come.
• She really likes stairs and we've been trying to get her to go down them on her tummy, backwards. She keeps doing forward and does really well, but on June 8th, she started going backwards more and more. She does great at this. She will also get off of the couch, or bed by going backwards. This is nice because I don't have to worry quite so much now about her falling all the time.
• She really hates her diaper changed and went through most of June screaming and rolling and trying to get away every time her diaper was changed.
• She also hates her car seat. We finally switched to a bigger seat, still rear facing, and she doesn't fight it at all. I was really the one that didn't want to change. It makes me a little sad that she is growing so fast and not a little baby anymore, but it is also great to watch her grow and learn.
• She does a lot of animal noises, cat, dog, cow, elephant, pig(she will actually try to snort with this one. It's hilarious) She also does a chicken, she learned this one at the zoo.
• One of my favorite things that Ellie does is blow kisses. Every time someone leaves, or if we are leaving someone, she will blow kisses. She makes a huge noise when doing it also, it is awesome!
• We got a bike trailer from my mom for our birthdays. While we were setting it up(June 5), Ellie found the tissue paper that was packed with it. I think this will be lots of fun, and nice to get out and do something outside.
• I just thought this was funny cause she was cleaning the floor for me. She really likes to push things around, I may have to do this more often, especially after eating:)
• I had a friend, Kami, come over and cut some bands for Ellie. I was really nervous about how it would look, but am so glad we got them cut. They are soooo cute! Thanks Kami!

June 10 I am sure there is so much more, but this is what I can think of right now. We love having her in our family and are having so much fun as she learns new things each day!